1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer or a MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) that is a multifunctional digital machine collectively having the copy and print functions, a print control method to control the image forming apparatus, and a print control program stored in a computer readable recording medium to make a computer of the image forming apparatus execute processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
Such an image forming apparatus mentioned above uses supply units such as toner cartridges and imaging units. Each supply unit contains a consumable portion such as toner consumed due to operations repeatedly performed to print target data on a sheet or a photoconductive drum gradually deteriorated also due to repeated print operations. Each supply unit is replaced with a new one when its consumable portion runs out or reaches to the end of usefulness.
Some of the supply units used in an image forming apparatus are proper products provided from the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus, and the other supply units are un-proper products provided from what are called third party vendors other than that manufacturer. Meanwhile, some of the supply units are new and not reproduced products, and the other supply units are reproduced products which consumable portions are refilled or replaced with new ones. Further, many of the new products are proper products, and many of the reproduced products are un-proper products provided from third party vendors.
Generally, supply units such as toner cartridges provided from third party vendors, have more possibilities of causing quality troubles and mismatch with image forming apparatuses, compared to proper products.
There is a heretofore known art that may work out the case above according to Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-195705, and wherein, when a supply unit is replaced with a new one, a user is requested to enter a code, and if the entered code does not correspond to any of the codes of the proper products having been used before, it is judged that the new supply unit is a un-proper product, then print operations are prohibited.
There is another heretofore known art according to Japanese Unexamined Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-122204, and wherein, when a supply unit is replaced with a new one, identification information is read out from a memory of the supply unit then transmitted to a service center, and authentication information is received therefrom in return, and if the authentication information is negative, it is judged that the new supply unit is a un-proper product, then image forming operations are limited.
However, supply units of good quality actually have few possibilities of causing a trouble during usage, even if those are un-proper products provided from third party vendors. For example, a supply unit has few possibilities of causing a trouble during usage, if it is provided from a third party vendor which product quality is guaranteed by the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus. Further, it would be advantageous if un-proper supply units provided from third party vendors become freely used, since users have more product choices.
On the contrary, with the art disclosed in the publications above, the prospect of using un-proper supply units provided from third party vendors is excluded. Thus, it is disadvantageous that users cannot arbitrarily select and purchase a preferable one among un-proper supply units of good quality.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.